Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T12:42:55.889Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A reinterpretation of the ages and depositional environments of the lower and middle Miocene stratigraphic records in a key area along the southern margin of the North Sea Basin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2017

JEF DECKERS  and
STEPHEN LOUWYE
JEF DECKERS*
Affiliation:
VITO, Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium
STEPHEN LOUWYE
Affiliation:
Research Unit Palaeontology, Department of Geology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
*
†Author for correspondence: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The stratigraphic reinterpretation of the palynologically analysed Miocene succession of the Wijshagen borehole along the southern margin of the North Sea Basin allowed an age assessment – late Burdigalian to early Serravalian – for the Genk Sand Member of the Bolderberg Formation. The depositional environment varied during Burdigalian to Serravalian times from continental (peat formation) to open marine (glauconitic sands), respectively from south to north in the Roer Valley Rift System. The study area of the Wijshagen borehole is located in the central part of the Roer Valley Rift System between these extreme environments. During the Burdigalian, the glauconitic fine clayey sands of the Houthalen Sand Member were deposited in the study area. From the late Burdigalian onwards, the glauconite content decreased and lignite content increased as a result of high influx of clastic material in the Roer Valley Rift System, and marked the start of the deposition of the Genk Sand Member. The Genk Sand Member shows an overall coarsening-upwards trend, which is consistent with the gradual infill of the available accommodation space in the Roer Valley Rift System by northwest-prograding clastic delta sequences. Dinoflagellate cyst analyses indicate that the Genk Sand Member was largely deposited in a marginal marine environment with only short pulses of continental input. These pulses of continental input increase in a southerly or landward direction where they led to the development of thick lignite seams.

Keywords

depositional environmentGenk Sand MemberMioceneNorth Sea Basin
Type
Original Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 156 , Issue 3 , March 2019 , pp. 525 - 532
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adriaens, R. 2015. Neogene and Quaternary clay minerals in the southern North Sea. Ph.D. thesis, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. Published thesis.Google Scholar
Buffel, Ph., Claes, S. & Gullentops, F. 2001. Kaartblad 26 Rekem. Toelichtingen bij de geologische kaart van België - Vlaams Gewest. Brussel: Belgische Geologische Dienst en Afdeling Natuurlijke Rijkdommen en Energie, 56 pp.Google Scholar
Deckers, J. 2015. Middle Miocene mass transport deposits in the southern part of the Roer Valley Graben. Marine and Petroleum Geology 66, 653–59.Google Scholar
De Meuter, F. & Laga, P. 1976. Lithostratigraphy and biostratigraphy based on benthonic foraminifera of the Neogene deposits in Northern Belgium. Bulletin Belgische Vereniging voor Geologie / Bulletin de la Société Belge de Géologie 85, 133–52.Google Scholar
Dreesen, R., Mareels, J. & Fries, S. 2006. De zandgroeve van Opgrimbie: een uitzonderlijk kijkvenster op de geologische geschiedenis van de Hoge Kempen. LIKONA Jaarboek 2005, Themanummer Nationaal Park Hoge Kempen, 14–25.Google Scholar
Dumont, A. 1850. Rapport sur la carte géologique du Royaume. Bulletins de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique 16, 351–73.Google Scholar
Gullentops, F. & Bastin, B. 1967. Composite profile of the Opgrimbie quarry. Subcommission on Loess-stratigraphy. Symposium Belgium 29 August–2 September 1967. Excursion NE Belgium. Leuven: Department of Physical Geography, Department of Palynology and Phytosociology, University of Leuven, 3 pp.Google Scholar
Hager, H. 1993. The origin of the Tertiary lignite deposits in the Lower Rhine region, Germany. International Journal of Coal Geology 23, 251–62.Google Scholar
Hooyberghs, H. 1983. Contribution to the study of planktonic foraminifera in the Belgian Tertiary. Aardkundige Mededelingen 2, 1–131.Google Scholar
Hooyberghs, H. & De Meuter, F. 1972. Biostratigraphy and interregional correlation of the Miocene deposits of Northern Belgium based on planktonic foraminifera; the Oligocene–Miocene boundary on the southern edge of the North Sea Basin. Mededelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Wetenschappen 34, 1–47.Google Scholar
Hooyberghs, H. & Moorkens, T. 1988. Planktonic foraminifera – Belgium. In The Northwest European Tertiary Basin (ed. Vinken, R.), pp. 190–8. Geologisches Jahrbuch, Reihe A 100.Google Scholar
King, C. 2016. A revised correlation of Tertiary Rocks in the British Isles and adjacent areas of NW Europe. Geological Society Special Report 27, 719 pp.Google Scholar
Laga, P., Louwye, S. & Geets, S. 2001. Paleogene and Neogene lithostratigraphic units (Belgium). In Guide to a Revised Lithostratigraphic Scale of Belgium (eds Bultynck, P. & Dejonghe, L.), pp. 135–52. Geologica Belgica 4.Google Scholar
Louwye, S. 2000. Dinoflagellate cysts and acritarchs from the Miocene Zonderschot Sands (northern Belgium): stratigraphic significance and correlation with contiguous areas. Geologica Belgica 3, 55–65.Google Scholar
Louwye, S. 2005. The Early and Middle Miocene transgression at the southern border of the North Sea Basin (northern Belgium). Geological Journal 40, 441–56.Google Scholar
Louwye, S., De Coninck, J. & Verniers, J. 2000. Shallow marine Lower and Middle Miocene deposits at the southern margin of the North Sea Basin (northern Belgium): dinoflagellate cyst biostratigraphy and depositional history. Geological Magazine 137, 381–93.Google Scholar
Louwye, S. & Laga, P. 2008. Dinoflagellate cyst stratigraphy and palaeoenvironment of the marginal marine Middle and Upper Miocene of the eastern Campine area, northern Belgium (southern North Sea Basin). Geological Journal 43, 75–94.Google Scholar
Louwye, S., Marquet, R., Bosselaers, M. & Lambert, O. 2010. Stratigraphy of an Early-Middle Miocene sequence near Antwerp in northern Belgium (southern North Sea Basin). Geologica Belgica 13 (3), 269–84.Google Scholar
Martini, E. & Müller, C. 1973. Nannoplankton-Gemeinschaften im Miozän und Pliozän des Nordseebeckens. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshefte 9, 555–64.Google Scholar
Matthijs, J. 1999. Toelichtingen bij de geologische kaart van België: kaartblad 25 Hasselt. Belgische Geologische Dienst & Anre, 102 pp.Google Scholar
Odin, G. S., Hunziker, J. C., Keppens, E., Laga, P. & Pasteels, P. 1974. Analyse radiométrique de glauconies par les méthodes au strontium et à l'argon; l'Oligo-Miocène de Belgique. Bulletin de la Société Belge de Géologie 83, 35–48.Google Scholar
Schäfer, A. & Utescher, T. 2014. Origin, sediment fill, and sequence stratigraphy of the Cenozoic Lower Rhine Basin (Germany) interpreted from well logs. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften 165, 287–314.Google Scholar
Schäfer, A., Utescher, T., Klett, M. & Valdivia-Manchego, M. 2005. The Cenozoic Lower Rhine Basin – rifting, sedimentation, and cyclic stratigraphy. International Journal of Earth Sciences / Geologische Rundschau 94, 621–39.Google Scholar
Utescher, T., Ashraf, A. R., Dreist, A., Dybkjær, K., Mosbrugger, V., Pross, J. & Wilde, V. 2012. Variability of Neogene continental climates in Northwest Europe – a detailed study based on microfloras. Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences 21, 289–314.Google Scholar
Utescher, T., Mosbrugger, V. & Ashraf, A. R. 2002. Facies and paleogeography of the Tertiary of the Lower Rhine Basin – sedimentary versus climatic control. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 81, 185–91.Google Scholar
Van Adrichem Boogaert, H. A. & Kouwe, W. F. P. 1997. Stratigraphic nomenclature of the Netherlands: revision and update. Mededelingen Rijks Geologische Dienst 50.Google Scholar
Vandenberghe, N., Harris, W., Wampler, J., Houthuys, R., Louwye, S., Adriaens, R., Vos, K., Lanckacker, T., Matthijs, J., Deckers, J., Verhaegen, J., Laga, P., Westerhoff, W. & Munsterman, D. 2014. The implications of K-Ar glauconite dating of the Diest Formation on the paleogeography of the Upper Miocene in Belgium. Geologica Belgica 17, 161–74.Google Scholar
Vandenberghe, N., Laga, P., Louwye, S., Vanhoorne, R., Marquet, R., De Meuter, F. J. C., Wouters, K. & Hagemann, H. W. 2005. Stratigraphic interpretation of the Neogene marine-continental record in the Maaseik well (49W0220) in the Roer Valley Graben, NE Belgium. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Belgium 52, 39 pp.Google Scholar
Vandenberghe, N., Laga, P., Steurbaut, E., Hardenbol, J. & Vail, P. R. 1998. Tertiary sequence stratigraphy at the southern border of the North Sea Basin in Belgium. In Mesozoic and Cenozoic Sequence Stratigraphy of European Basins (eds de Graciansky, P. C., Hardenbol, J., Jacquin, Th. & Vail, P. R.), pp. 119–154. Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM) Special Publication 60.Google Scholar
Van Loon, A. J. 2009. Unraveling the enigmas of the ‘silver sands’ in the Dutch/German/Belgian border area. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 88, 133–45.Google Scholar
Van Loon, A. J. & Mange, M. A. 2007. ‘In situ’ dissolution of heavy minerals through extreme weathering, and the application of the surviving assemblages and their dissolution characteristics to correlation of Dutch and German silver sands. In: Heavy Minerals in Use (eds Mange, M. A. & Wright, D. T.), pp. 189–213. Developments in Sedimentology 58. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Willems, W., Laga, P. & Moorkens, T. 1988. Benthic Foraminifera – Belgium. In The Northwest European Tertiary Basin (ed. Vinken, R.), pp. 179–88. Geologisches Jahrbuch, Reihe A 100.Google Scholar
Wouters, K. 1978. Een systematische, biostratigrafische en paleobiologische studie van de Ostracoda uit de Miocene afzettingen in Noord-België. Ph.D. thesis, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. Published thesis.Google Scholar
Wouters, L. & Vandenberghe, N. 1994. Geologie van de Kempen. Brussels: Niras.Google Scholar
Ziegler, P. A. 1990. Geological Atlas of Western and Central Europe. The Hague: Shell International Petroleum Maatschappij.Google Scholar